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COVINGTON 



AN ADDRESS 

BY 

RUSSELL SWAIN CLARK 

Pupil Second District School 




BEFORE THE INDUSTRIAL CLUB 

OF COVINGTON, KY. 



COVINGTON. 

An Address by 

RUSSELL SWAIN CLARK, 

Pupil Second District School, Before The Industrial Club. 

Mr. Chairman and Gentlemen of the 
Industrial Club: 

THE subject on which I am going to speak, is Cov- 
ington. How many of the persons who are always 
grumbHng about Covington, have taken interest 
enough in the city, to know anything of its early history? 
That Covington is in the great State of Kentucky, is 
reason enough in my mind, why it should deserve the 
respect of every one of its citizens. 

There is no other state of our glorious Union richer in 
stories of adventure than Kentucky, no pioneers bolder or 
more deserving of our admiration, than that of the Ken- 
tucky pioneers, and no other state that has played any 
nobler part in the time of our Nation's need, than Ken- 
tucky, of which state Covington is its second city. 

The pioneer stock of Kentucky is exceeded by none. We 
read in history, that our State was settled by that unsur- 
passed class of people, the Scotch-Irish, chiefly from Vir- 
ginia, and I think that the first families of Kentucky are 
not at all inferior to the boasted first families of Virginia. 

You hear that the Kentuckian is a firce hater, that his 
hatred extends on down through his descendants ; that feuds 
are a blot upon our State; that Kentucky ranks low in 
educational opportunities. If the Kentuckian is a fierce 
hater, he is also a most loyal friend. If the educational 
opportunities are poor, the real Kentuckian in Culture sur- 
passes all candidates for the grand old name of "Gentle- 
man," and it is up to you, gentlemen, to help Covington in 
this day and generation to advance the educational facilities 
of its people. 



An English gentleman, one who had traveled much, 
passing through Kentucky, answered in reply to a resident 
■ of our city, who was making apologies for this town, that 
the most cultured, the most widely read persons he had ever 
met in his travels, were Kentuckians. Yes, and narrowed it 
down to Covin gtonians. It takes an unprejudiced mind to 
do us justice. 

From Revolutionary times, Kentucky has played an 
honorable part in our nation's history. One thousand vol- 
unteers flocked to meet Colonel George Rogers Clark at the 
mouth of the Licking river. Their object was to avenge 
the battle of the Blue Kicks. They destroyed five Indian 
towns in Ohio, and so overwhelmed the savages, that they 
never again invaded our State in large numbers. 

Gentlemen, where is Covington's monument to "Colonel 
George Rogers Clark" and his daring pioneers? 

In the ^^'ar of 1H12, it was the sharpshooters from Ken- 
tucky who won the battle of New Orleans. Soldiers, 
trained on European battlefields, could not cope successfully 
with the keen-eyed, steady-armed Kentuckians, trained on 
the dark and bloody ground. History has repeated itself in 
the Kentucky doughboy, many from Covington, who over- 
came in the late war the military aristocrats of Prussia and 
Bavaria. 

In the Civil War, Kentucky was neutral. Some persons 
have slurred our State because of this attitude in the 
struggle between the North and the South. The people of 
Kentucky then were a thinking people. They followed 
blindly neither the champions of one cause nor those of 
the other. Many Kentuckians fought and perished for the 
Union, many fell for the Lost Cause. 

In 181)8, Kentuckians, including Covingtonians, were not 
slow to respond to the call for men to avenge the wrongs of 
Cuba, and uphold the dignity of our Nation. The Cuban 
war, known as the Spanish War, was one that suited the 
Kentuckians exactly. It was short, clear-cut and the 
country went straight to work. It accomplished its purpose, 
it hit the mark, and Spanish tyranny fell. 



In the World War, just closed, our own city, along with 
the State of Kentucky and the Nation, played an important 
part and contributed largely to the successful outcome, and 
many heroes, including Covingtonians, did much to over- 
whelm the common enemy, and some of our boys are now 
lying on the battlefields of France. To them all honor! 

Is anyone ashamed of the part we played in this great 
conflict? If there were any traitors within the confines of 
this fair State and City of ours, they were not the descend- 
ants of the pioneer stock of Kentucky nor that of Kenton 
County ; they were those whose sole aim for sometime, has 
been, to supplant the dwellers of this land, that has been 
well named. "God's Country." They were relatives of those 
Barbarians beyond the sea. Kentucky is indeed a noble 
State, and we must see that Covington shall be a credit to it. 

I suppose when Thomas Kennedy came down the river 
from Pittsburgh, the spot situated at the junction of the 
Ohio and Licking rivers nuist have appealed to him. It 
must have seemed good to settle here. I do not know what 
this region was in his day, with all the charm of natural 
scenery about it, but I do know, that Covington, viewed 
from the Suspension Bridge at sunset of a quiet evening in 
Spring, is good to look at — sweet and restful. 

I am no judge of architecture, therefore, if my opinion 
does not agree with yours, pardon my ignorance ; I know 
only what pleases me, and the many comfortable homes 
and commodious and fairly convenient public buildings of 
our good city, are fair to look upon. 

Among the buildings of which we are justly proud is 
the beautiful new High School, located at Holmesdale, near 
the mansion of a famous Covington family, that of the 
Holmes's, one of the most widely known Kentucky families, 
where in former years, banquets and dinners were held in 
honor of statesmen and men of renown. 

Gentlemen, "as a schoolboy," I am especially interested 
in matters of education, and our High School ofifers two 
courses, one wherein the students prepare themselves for 
business, as soon as they leave school, while the other is 

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where the student prepares himself for a college or a 
university course. 

Our good city has fine elementary and Junior High 
Schools with an efficient set of teachers ; but, gentlemen, we 
need at least two more new schools, and when they are 
completed, Covington will be for the time being well sup- 
plied with school facilities. Kindly see to it that we get 
these new schools, for education makes deserving men and 
women, and it differentiates the scholar and gentleman from 
the bum. 

If you will look at the dates upon our Public School 
buildings, you will perceive that from ISfiT) to LS72, old 
Covington erected the First, Second, Third and Fourth 
District Schools and the old High School. Does that look 
as if Covington had shirked its duty in the old days towards 
its children? 

At the close of the great Civil War, within a period of 
seven years, five Public School buildings ! Evidently the 
old Covingtonians had respect for America's "greatest insti- 
tution," the Public ScJiool. Gentlemen, can you afford to 
do less in this, the^Oth century? 

Gentlemen, the boys and girls of our city thank you, one 
and all, for the interest you have taken in our welfare. This 
interest amounts to more than mere words, as witness, the 
elegant High School which has just been builded. The 
school children of our city mean to prove, by their appre- 
ciation in work accomplished, their gratefulness to the tax- 
payers of Covington for the eff'orts made for our education 
and welfare. 

We need a Normal School, and if you will establish one 
for us, we assure you, that you will find many teachers for 
our schools right in your midst. 

Our parents cannot afford to send their children across 
the river, to the teachers' college, of the Cincinnati Uni- 
versity, and you and we are losing good teachers because 
Covington girls do not happen to be rich enough to train 
themselves for teaching in those schools where they must 
pay for such training. 

4 



Let us start a Normal School in the Holmes Castle, and 
I promise you that there will be graduated from it "student 
teachers'' that will demonstrate that education is not a 
failure. 

It is said that a certain wealthy gentleman of a neigh- 
boring city, was once asked by a representative of an insti- 
tution established for the welfare of the young men of the 
city, for a donation for that institution. "What is it doing" ? 
asked the capitalist, who was of an inquiring mind and thor- 
oughly practical. Educating young men. replied his visitor. 
The old gentleman sprang from his chair, threw down 
violently upon the table a ruler that he had in his hand, and 
said. "Education be damned ! I have a son-in-law who can 
speak five languages, yet he can't make a living for my 
daughter." 

Gentlemen, the students who will come from these 
schools of ours may never be able to speak five languages, 
but if they learn to speak their own beautiful English tongue 
well and apply themselves intelligently to life's duties, do 
you not think their education will be a success? 

Build us more schools, for Covington is constantly grow- 
ing in population and wealth, and schools are a necessity. 
And while doing it. do not forget that you have promised 
to see that there shall be a new Second District School, also 
a new District School in West Covington. 

In building these new school buildings, see to it that 
they are ample, commodious and possess all modern im- 
provements, including a gymnasium, a good sized com- 
munity room, and bath and toilet rooms. 

Gentlemen, who can tell in the years to come how many 
Presidents and statesmen may come from Covington 
schools? Eor statesmen, including Presidents, are merely 
boys grown to manhood and who have availed themselves 
of their opportunities. 

Covington has solved the problem of the negro. We 
educate him in his own schools, by teachers of his own 
race. We do not force him into a school-room where he 
will have his feelings hurt by an unsympathetic teacher and 

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by thoughtless students. We give him encouragement in the 
thought that he must elevate his race and himself, and not 
wait for the white man to do it for him. We furnish him 
the opportunity and he does the rest. 

Kentucky has never treated the negro unkindly. A 
gentleman interested in educational afifairs, recently said 
tliat Covington has one of the best schools for the education 
of the negro to be found anywhere. I have heard that the 
teachers in that school are doing excellent work. Perhaps, 
gentlemen, they need further encouragement to strengthen 
them in their labors. See to it that they get it. 

Covington has reason to be proud of its courts : for is 
there anyone here ashamed of that judge and jury that gave 
the death sentence to those fellows who shot two of our 
aged men, who were guarding the hard earned savings 
entrusted to their care? 

These old gentlemen had been respected citizens of the 
community and the jury that tried their nnn-derers did not 
forget that fact. 

Neither does anyone here l)lush, because another jury 
gave to an old negro, an cx-slavc, the property that his 
master had left him many years ago. 

'^Corijigtou's Business Houses.'' Look at those stores 
amongst us, still doing a thriving business after years of 
service to the community. A lady said the other day, that 
a member of the third generation of her family was buying 
groceries of the same old firm, which had been patronized 
first, by her mother, then by herself, and now by her 
daughter. This is indeed a recognition of faithful service. 

A city must work in order that it lives, eats, and enjoys 
itself, and makes for its future growth. Among Coving- 
ton's great industries I would mention the great plant of the 
Houston, Stanwood and Gamble Company, the Stewart 
Iron Works, the Eagle Cordage Works, U. S. Motor Truck 
Company, the Kelly-Koett Company, the Sebastian Lathe 
\\'orks, and numerous machine shops, iron foundries, rail- 
way shoi)s and woodworking concerns, and many minor 

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industries, all of which give employment to and make for 
the greater importance of our city. 

Covington is justly proud of its several banking institu- 
tions, its many building and loan associations, its large retail 
stores, and this beautiful Industrial Club Building and this 
wide awake Industrial Club, which latter is ever working for 
the advancement of our city and its institutions. 

Covington progresses, as attests the many miles of paved 
and improved streets, also its splendid street railway sys- 
tem, which latter you must treat fairly and liberally, its 
electric light and water facilities, together with its several 
bridges, crossing the Ohio and Licking rivers, and its great 
railway systems, all making for the comfort and con- 
venience of its citizens. 

"7^^ Professional Men.'' Where will you find finer speci- 
mens of the bar than those great lawyers of old Covington. 
Who forgets John G. Carlisle? Mr. A. C. Collins, the 
principal of my school, handed me a newspaper clipping, 
yellow and worn. It was about John G. Carlisle. In it, the 
writer said, what I must give you in his exact words: "It 
was by sheer force of intellect that John G. Carlisle attained 
such prominence, for he was a poor politician ; the American 
people have great respect for brains. In Carlisle, all parties 
saw a gigantic mind, and that made him a leader. He was 
the most accomplished Speaker of the House, in our history 
and the most popular. He spoke evil of no man and did not 
appear to think evil of any man." Gentlemen, where is 
Covington's monument to tJiis distinguished son ? 

He sleeps among the pioneers of Covington in Linden 
Grove Cemetery, and many boys and girls of our city, as he 
quietly rests in God's Acre, do not know that such a man 
ever existed. W> must take greater pride and make known 
to the world the worth of such noble Covingtonians. 

As we progress, in the course of time. Covington may be 
able to supply the nation with another great Speaker. Some 
day. we may even furnish a President to these United 
States. Such a one, as was the great Lincoln, a native 
Kentuckian. 

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''Our Physicians^ Where will anyone find men with 
more beautiful records for charity and devotion to duty 
than the physicians of old Covington? The older citizens 
ever tell beautiful stories which might adorn the pages of 
fiction, of the men who by day and throughout the long 
watches of the night, ministered to the sick and ailing. The 
physicians in our midst today are not far behind their 
predecessors, for they, too, are doing their duty, and carving 
for themselves enviable names and positions. 

To the gentlemen of the bar, the press, to our pro- 
gressive merchants and manufacturers — to all who would 
see Covington take a place in the sun — we appeal to you, as 
well as to the members of this Industrial Club, that you do 
everything in your power to advance the interests of our 
good city. 

We have accomplished much as witness our magnificent 
parks, and open spaces, including Devon and Goebel Parks, 
which will be appreciated more and more, as our people 
learn their value, as they continue to visit them more largely. 

Our magnificent City Hall, and City Commissioners, 
our Board of Education, our splendid churches of all de- 
nominations, and their splendid buildings, including the new 
Cathedral, the fine parochial schools and the ministers of 
all denominations of this city, are all contributing to the 
glory and growth of our good city as they reflect the pulse 
beat of its heart. 

Yes, gentlemen, a city but reflects the men and women 
who are its citizenry. If we would have a still greater 
and a still better Covington, and- there is always room for 
improvement, we must continue to go forward. Let us all 
put our hearts and souls into the affairs of our city, for as 
we devote ourselves to its best interests, so will we work for 
its greater future, and make it a sweeter, and a better town 
to live in, one more favorably known abroad and we proud 
to be known as Covingtonians. 



LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 

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